


Flawed

by syntheticrealities



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Ableism, F/F, Misgendering, Prosthetics, mentions of needles, some OCs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-03-29 21:43:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3911713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syntheticrealities/pseuds/syntheticrealities
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peridot is flawed. Homeworld wants her gone, and she has no plans of going down without a fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The News

“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do.”

“You’re telling me that the most advanced race in the universe doesn’t have the capability to remove a few inconsistencies-”

"Yes, I am!" snapped the medical technician. Peridot scowled from her bed and directed her glare out across Gem City. The other gem sighed and Peridot's attention twitched back into the room as the technician pulled up a hologram.

Still frowning darkly, Peridot looked across at it and the familliar shape of her own gem projected upon it. The technician saw that she had restrained herself and magnified the view. The crystals and facets at the heart of her gem filled the screen.

"With the location of the cracks, we can't risk operating without shattering your gem entirely. I'm sorry. Of course, you can still choose the surgery if you want it, but I strongly advise you to decline the operation."

The clinic air felt dry and empty apart from the crackles of static electricity surrounding the bed sheets. Physical forms required some maintenance and as if she were an organic, Peridot had been cooped up under them for two weeks whilst various tests and scans had been performed. As hard as the clinic was trying to clear her for active duty planetside, all the tests returned the same.

"It isn't fair." Peridot muttered, turning back to the panoramic view of the city. She hadn't expected the clinician to hear her, but she did.

"Very little is these days." she replied softly. Peridot looked back at her abruptly, noticing just then the gently glowing lines of circuitry that spread upwards from her wrist. So she had them too-flaws.

A moment filled with the muted chatter of the streets outside passed before Peridot spoke. She tried to keep her voice even and casual, returning to look out of the window beside as she did so. The clinician noted how the anger in her eyes had dimmed. Already her frustration was giving way to fatigue. A tiredness of the soul that no amount of technology could cure.

"How long have you had them?"

The clinician laughed nervously and fiddled with her wrist. At her touch, the boundary between her physical form and the prosthesis flickered.

"A year. There was an opening available on the fast-track programme."

Peridot nodded slightly, aware of her lack of sensation below where her elbow joints would be, and how short her legs beneath the sheets were. Where two arms should have rested on the bedsheets folded around her narrow torso, there was just empty space.

"I see. What was your assignment before that?"

"Kindergarten maintenance in Sector 4. I was discharged from active service when I started struggling to work the excavator controls."

"Did it hurt?" Peridot asked suddenly. The clinician startled a little, her amber eyes going wide in momentary shock.

"Excuse me?"

"Did it hurt when they fitted the prosthetics?"

The clinician sensed that Peridot was not asking for the formal response. She lowered her eyes and her voice simultaneously.

"It was the most painful thing I've ever felt."

Another moment of stale silence passed and the clinician seemed to regret her slip of protocol. When the cool tones of the hologram sounded again, Peridot noted how the clinician's eyes were cool and guarded once again.

"There are currently two choices for you given how inoperable your condition is. You may opt to be fitted with nanotech to counteract the impurities and microscopic fractures at the heart of your gem, or you can risk undergoing surgery."

Peridot didn't miss what was implied at the tail end of that phrase. Either take the prosthetics and bow out with dignity, or go under the grinding stones and potentially never be able to reform once the flawed parts of her gem were cut away. Both of them knew that there was a third outcome: take the surgery, and risk shattering altogether beneath the blades. 

There was a dull click as the clinician turned off the holoscreen. The projection of Peridot's flawed gem faded away. It wasn't difficult for her to decide really-she had a long time ago. Surgery was calculated risk she was unwiling to take. If the Council wanted her gone, they'd have to do better than a botched operation. Perdiot was smarter than that and they knew it. With any luck, the nanotech would work and they would have no choice other than to clear her for active duty again. 

As soon as her condition had developed, Peridot had known she wouldn't be able to return to her position as Head of Reconnaissance on the Council. There was no way either Blue Topaz or Yellow Diamond would risk having a gem like her leading the government. Flawed gems made flawed decisions, after all, and the Council was afraid of the general populus finding an opening in their rule. A weakness. An impurity.

The decision she made then though was as clear and unyielding as a pure diamond. There was nothing she could do but fight, and hope that one day she would be able to prove them wrong.

"I'll sign for the nanotech."  
Peridot didn't see, but the clinician restrained an expression of relief as she said that.

She quickly brought up the registration forms and signed off on Peridot's behalf before rising from her seat.

"I'll put the application through immediately. The nearest opening for the operation is...0700 tomorrow."

"That's fine" Peridot replied distantly. It wasn't like she could go anywhere otherwise.

The clinician went to leave the room and as the door hissed open, Peridot turned to her and asked one last question;

"Your name...What was your name before-"

"Before I was struck from the duty roster?" the clinician put a hand to her chin as if she had forgotten. Her face softened a little before she turned back to Peridot, looking so forlon and small in her sea of crisp bedsheets.

"Carnelian. My name was Carnelian."

"Well...It's nice to meet you, Carnelian. I'm Perdiot."  
Carnelian smiled softly at the poor attempt at a joke.

"The pleasure is all mine."

And then the door hissed closed, leaving Peridot to her thoughts.

* * *

 

The next day, after Peridot had exchanged some heated phonecalls with her superiors because it was what was expected of her, Carnelian returned to the clinic with good news. Peridot muted her headset and turned to listen.

"Your operative slot has been moved forwards to this morning in view of the fact that the Council has already located a new position for you."

"Really? Where have I been assigned?"  
Carnelian paused for a moment and looked at the floor.

"One of the autonomous scouting vessels. The flagship of the new fleet, in fact."

"Oh." Disappointment was evident in her voice. The new ships were designed with the latest technology, but as a result required a skeleton crew of exactly one. It was becoming widely known that it was the Council's latest dumping ground for flawed gems like her. Carnelian moved over to the bed, a small microchip cradled in her hands.

"This so you can manipulate the nanobots after they've been impanted in your gem. It'll allow you to control your new limbs as well as provide a limited range of sensation."

"I don't see any point in attaching it now-I'm going to have to reform after the procedure anyway."

"I knew that, but I felt that you should know as much as possible. When...When I had the operation, I was flying blind. No one deserves that."

Peridot couldn't think of a reply to that, but just then the intercom buzzed and Carnelian checked her mobile display. She sealed the microchip into a small vial and kept hold of it as she tapped in the directions to the operating theatre at the foot of Peridot's bed. With terror, Peridot looked up, leaning forwards too far from her pile of pillows and having to catch herself on the stump of her arm:

"Wait, you're not coming?"

"I can't-multiple gems in theatre can interfere with the harmonics of the nanobots. They have to be tuned to you, and only you."

Whilst Peridot processed this, Carnelian moved behind her and returned the pillows to their places before gently but firmly pushing Peridot back into a sitting position. Peridot could feel zaps and pulses running through her body faster and faster-in a human, it would've manifested as a racing heart. Absurdly, she thought she could smell Carnelian's vivid red hair, but that was ridiculous. Why would anyone want to produce scents like-like and organic?

Peridot was snapped out of her frenzied reveries when the bed began to move slowly towards the door along a glowing line in the floor. Her eyes fell upon the line and she knew that she was not going to appreciate what was at the end of it. The door slid open and Peridot squirmed round to meet Carnelian's eyes one last time. She didn't catch what she said, but her lips formed the shape of two words that Peridot hated. She didn't need them.

_Good luck._


	2. The Surgeon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot goes to receive her dose of nanobots. After meeting the gem that's going to be administering them, however, she wonders if she really wants them at all...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (faceclaim for the surgeon is Tom Hiddleston.)

The door slid closed and Peridot watched the edges seal up with a mixture of despair and impudence. In the hallway of the clinic, she was utterly alone; the bed hovered along unaccompanied and she felt as though she had been given all the time in the world in which to consider her failures, and whether her condition could be included among them.

_Don't be ridiculous. No gem can help developing flaws. It's a random process brought on by stress._

Even though she knew the mantra from training school well, she also knew it wasn't true-if being flawed wasn't something to be ashamed of, to see as a failure, why was the Council so goddamn eager to get her off planet?

In response to her own unspoken question, Peridot scowled and kicked the side of the bed as best she could with the stump of her leg. The metal railing rang dully and she slipped back on her pillows, resigned, to watch the ceiling tiles pass like leaves in a river.

Slowly and yet all at once, the bed came to a gentle halt before a wall emblazoned with a diamond. In the middle, it simply read "REFORMATION."

If Peridot had a stomach, it would have dropped then.

For a moment, there was utter silence. Then, there was the sound of muffled voices from beyond the door. With increasing unease, Peridot listened to their tones rise to a borderline shout before they fell silent again. A line of light appeared down the middle of the door and a moment later it split open to reveal the operative theatre. The bed drifted inside and the door closed behind it, sealing the last of Peridot's hopes in the hallway.

The theatre was brightly lit and filled with all manner of complex-looking machinery. A device that was eerily simillar to the kindergarten excavator units was suspended in the spherical ceiling. As Peridot's bed moved itself around the metal table directly beneath it, she saw how the light glinted from the end of a very long, very sharp looking needle embedded in the heart of the machine.

She repressed a shudder.

The bed bumped to a halt again and beeped impatiently at what any earthling would've called a doctor, or perhaps a surgeon. This other gem was clad in a bulky apron made of some silvery material and when they turned to face her, Peridot saw with shock how...Unnatural this gem looked.

Their face was sharp and angular, as was the rest of their body and there was a sense that there was nothing close to feminine about them. Stony eyes frowned down at her from a height most gems would only achieve through fusion and their hair was close cropped nearly down to the skull.

Everything about this room was wrong and Peridot had an itch to get out right then and there, even if she'd have to crawl along the floor to manage it. But then the strange, lissome gem huffed and began to work the control modules for the machine in the ceiling, their muscular hands moving over the various dials and switches with ease.

Peridot was not going to go down so quietly. If the Council intended to kill her with this mechanical monstrosity, they'd have to try a little harder.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't you be the one undergoing reformative surgery? You look like you need it."

"Please refrain from making unnecessary comments. It simply slows everything down." the surgeon replied, their voice a deep rumble from somewhere in their curveless chest.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just thought that since your condition is obviously much worse than mine, your treatment would be prioritised-"

The surgeon turned around smartly on their heel and Peridot reflexively leant back. The dark grey gem located just under the surgeon's sternum flashed menacingly.

"I can assure you-" they paused to look down a long list of names displayed on a screen strapped to their wrist, "-PX1104, that my appearance is well within acceptable parameters for my series...Which is more than can be said for _some_ of us."

Peridot felt revulsion and disgust race through her as the surgeon smirked and quite carelessly caressed the stump of her leg through the thin bedsheet.

"Forgive me, I didn't realise you were just horrendously ugly." she snapped.

The surgeon barked a bitter laugh at that and turned back to the consoles to finish the preparations. They hit a few final keys and the bed groaned on it's hover pads as it began to rise up to meet level with the edge of the table. Peridot scooted away from the edge nervously, wishing she'd chosen the surgery instead.

"If you would be so kind as so move onto the operating table, PX1104-"

"My name is Peridot!" she shouted, finally snapping. The Surgeon visibly flinched and violently jammed a finger into the gel of the machine control mechanism.

"You lost your name as soon as you were discovered to be less than whole. If in some way you can project a complete form again, I'm sure the Council would be so kind as to return it to you."

Peridot stared daggers at the surgeon and when she found the look retuned easily and equally right back at her, she fumed under her breath and began the awkward process of shuffling and dragging herself onto the table.

"Like you would know...Prissy Onyx...Uptight Jet..."

Forming cruel names for her surgeon helped Peridot to calm down and settle herself into the proper position. As she laid back, the surgeon lined up a pair of crosshairs over the top of her gem and began to power up the machine. A low hum increasing in pitch began to fill the room.

Suddenly, Peridot ran out of names. As she lay there, stuttering under her breath, the surgeon moved over to the side of the table and tightened down a strap across her belly, then another across her shoulders. Their fingers brushed over her exposed collarbone and Peridot shuddered, ceasing her incessant cruelties long enough for the surgeon to lean close enough that they could see their reflections in each other's eyes.

"After the injection is complete, you will be forced by reflex to retreat into your gem. Reformation should take roughly twice as long as it normally would for you. Expect to wake in a room very simillar to the one you came from. Oh, and you would be wise to remain as still as possible."

"Gladly." she growled back. The surgeon smiled a sickly sweet smile and returned to the control consoles, snapping shut the flap of silvery material sewn into their apron over the top of their gem. Out of her peripheral vision, Peridot saw them dip a hand into the gel again, forming a fist around an invisible lever. Her heartbeat was racing and the depths of her breaths were restrained by the straps over her chest. She could feel how the tough rubber bit into her skin. Up above her, right between her eyes, the tip of the needle in the reformation machine began to glow red, then orange, then white. The hum reached a fever pitch. At the last moment, the surgeon spoke, voice raised against the drone all around them. As they spoke, they flicked a visor down to shield their eyes:

"And if you must call me by an informal name, you may call me Hematite."

And then they pulled the lever embedded in the console and the glowing needle arced down, piercing straight into the gem beneath it.

Peridot screamed.

Everything went white; so achingly, burning bright white. And then the world faded into blackness, and silence.

In the nightmares during her reformation, Peridot could have sworn she heard Hematite laugh as they pulled the lever.


	3. The Council Connection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hematite might appear to run the show, but who's really pulling the strings at the heart of the clinic?....

Carnelian could hear her scream even from the other end of the corridor. Her own gem ached in sympathy and not for the first time that day, she wished she'd had the courage to warn Peridot about Hematite, and what to expect of him.

But the procedure was complete now, and it was up to Peridot to decide how and when she would reform. If she did at all. About half of gems undergoing nanotech insertion didn't survive the procedure. The mortality rate would undoubtedly be a lot lower if the Council pulled their fingers out of their ass and discharged Hematite from the clinic.

Carnelian's face turned dark then. That was never going to happen all the time Hematite was going to play fool for Jasper-

_No. I can't. I swore to him I'd never tell._

But as she stood there, smoothing out the sheets of another bed in the reformation bay, she knew that things had changed since her and Hematite were younger. As she had grown kinder and more willing to give her help to others, Hematite had become bitter and pessimistic. And all because he lost the position on the Council to that other one, with the wild cerise curls...

She startled when the door whispered open. Hematite strode in, Peridot's gem nestled in a pod filled with gel. It was tucked carelessly under his arm and as he came in, Carnelian saw and felt herself shake briefly with fury. Hematite was oblivious to her rage as he threw the pod onto the freshly-made bed and signed off the operative report projected on the wall beside it.

"I trust the procedure went well." she stated tonelessly, turning her back to him. Hematite continued to flick through the report.

"I encountered a little verbal abuse from the patient, but everything went well nonetheless."

"She didn't know-"

"Of course she didn't. It's not like I expected you to give me the privilege of a properly informed patient."

Carnelian flinched and even though his tone had remained light and airy, there was no doubting that the knife he had just placed between her shoulder blades was serrated. She ground her teeth and resisted the urge to bite back.

"My apologies, shir. I thought you had already introduced yourself, as you do with the others-"

"I hadn't had the time, given that the Council forwarded the operation as I believe you requested."

_Why is this my fault? All you had to do was be polite to her._

Hematite closed the report and straightened his collar in the reflection of the screen. As always, he was crisply dressed, but he hardly ever left his wing of the clinic. Nothing good ever came of him choosing to sign patients in to Reformation directly.

"I'm deeply sorry, shir. I shan't do it again."

Hematite gave his collar a final preen before muttering a dissatisfied "excuse me." and striding quietly out of the ward. As the door swished closed, Carnelian breathed an audible sigh of relief and moved to right the pod of gel where it had fallen sideways on the bed. She gently opened the pod and lifted Peridot's gem from it. She held it up briefly, trying to imagine Peridot's body around it and that they were looking eye to eye again.

"Don't worry about Hematite. He's just a little prideful, is all. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about him sooner-I wasn't expecting the Council to send such a swift reply."

Peridot's gem remained silent, turning a vivid emerald shade as the sun flashed through it. Carnelian sighed again and settled the gem in the folds of the bed sheets, folding them around it gently as if she was building a cocoon. As she arranged the sheets delicately, she continued to speak in an offhanded manor to the gem beside her-sometimes gems remembered things said to them when they were reforming, other times they didn't. Carnelian thought it was worth the risk.

"See, the thing about Hematite is that he's always been...Different."

She gave a sad little laugh then and glanced at the gem. Still listening. She looked out across Gem City as she continued, hoping that Peridot could hear every word:

"Well, I guess you noticed that as soon as your saw him. Hematite's always been like that-ever since me and him grew up in Kindergarten. Always just a little...Odd."

Her voice grew a little softer as her eyes glazed over with the memory.

"I remember there was one time when...When other gem children would hit him, just to make him retreat into his gem. They'd always tell him to come back with longer hair, or softer lips...But he never could. Every time, it was always that same tall, sharp body and mean, cold eyes. He hated that about himself-that he couldn't change his form as easily as everyone else. When we were older, eventually he thought he was flawed, like us. It only got worse when he told everyone he didn't want to be called by female terms like the rest of us."

She moved to sit on the edge of the bed. Outside the window, Gem City continued to pulse with light and life-full of beautiful truths and grim lies. How many people were there out on the streets like her, or like Hematite? Did they number truly as few as the Council's statistics said, or did she meet the gaze of another like her every time she left the clinic?

"Anyway, we both drifted apart. Hematite wanted to become a healer...He thought that maybe he could fix whatever was wrong with him himself. Maybe he just can't. Maybe he shouldn't try anymore...Perhaps it's just...The way he's supposed to be."

The last stray rays of golden sunlight splintered across the ward and the rows of empty beds. Carnelian glanced again at Peridot's gem, looking so cold and vulnerable without a body around it, and shivered. She fussed one last time with the sheets before rising and setting up the ward maintenance routines for the night. A still, eerie moment after, she hurriedly smoothed down her skirts and flitted out into the hall, the doorway merging shut behind her.

As the lights in the Reformation wing dimmed, Hematite locked the door to his office and lowered the lights. He kept his rooms cool and dark-she often joked that he looked like part of the furniture sometimes, with how washed out and plain everything was. Hematite knew better than to listen: he had only two passions-his work, and his woman.

He reclined languidly in the chair behind his desk and after a moment's thought, pulled up a blank message screen and entered the recipient's address. Two letters at the front of the code still captured and held his gaze. _CO. Council Officer._

Another tap and a tiny light blinked into life atop the projector screen. He stared into the camera for a second before steepling his fingers across his lips and beginning to speak with carefully weighted words.

"I think we both know this can't continue. Either you must leave your position as General, or I must move my research team elsewhere...If we go on like this, we're going to get caught and the both of us are going to look like fools."

He paused and looked back at the camera, smirking a little. She'd like that.

"And I know you well enough that you'd rather be dishonourably discharged for something much bolder than fraternising with a gem of lower rank. Either way, I can't risk making a false move now, J-I've nearly got it! Another few sessions together and I think I'll find a cure for my condition!"

He realised how animated he'd become and pointedly smoothed down his dark silver hair before reclining again.

"If you want to figure this out, meet me at the usual time and place."

He snapped the camera off and replayed the message in his head. Before he could regret his decision, he hit send and the video clip was encrypted and flung out into cyberspace, out across the city.

Half a second later, General Jasper's terminal flickered into life, displaying a new message from an undisclosed address. As her wrist comm vibrated silently to notify her, Jasper restrained a smile. Suddenly the war council didn't seem to last so long at all.


	4. The Free Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot can happen in one day, and not everyone is to be trusted.

Carnelian

The halls of the clinic seemed labyrinthine and unending. Carnelian struggled to keep her pace even and steady as she searched for the exit-a year already, and she still didn't know her way around. Hematite's office loomed out of nowhere and she was walking too fast to stop before she collided painfully with the surgeon as he exited his office. He managed to catch himself from falling on the doorframe, but Carnelian was not so lucky. She yelped as she tumbled to the floor, glowing lines flashing up her arm as her prosthetic hand took the brunt of the fall. Hematite was astounded and horrified. Did she see anything? Anything at all?

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Are you still so young as to think it's acceptable to run in the halls!"

Rubbing her wrist and scooting away uneasily, Carnelian stamped down the sudden urge to whimper. So much was going on-why couldn't she just leave?

"I-I'm sorry shir-"

"Goodness gracious I've had enough of this! I'll speak to you in the morning." He spat, before turning on his heel and walking past. Something in his words made Carnelian shiver with apprehension...He wasn't going to discharge her, was he? How was she going to aquire the ID disks she needed if she was?

But there wasn't enough time to enquire, as Hematite strode off deeper into the clinic. The collision had helped her to get her bearings though and Carnelian rose from the floor and hurried off to the outside world. She didn't want to keep her friend waiting.

* * *

 

Hematite

As soon as he heard Carnelian scuttling off to whatever she did outside of office hours, Hematite dialled up an anonymous number on his implant. The line connected and there was a scuffle at the other end. He could hear the sounds of traffic passing in the background.

"It's 0900. Where are you?"

"Still stuck at the clinic. I had some delays."

"Nothing serious, I hope. Is the arrangement still on?"

"Yes, yes. Don't wait too long for me. Move the transport if you're getting worried."

On the other end of the line, Jasper laughed huskily. Hematite felt sparks travel to his fingertips briefly at the sound of it and he quickened his pace to the fire escape at the back of the clinic.

"I'm the General, Ati, I'm never worried."

Jasper cut the connection and Hematite dimmed the implant. He found the fire escape-analogue compared to the digital gel divisions within the rest of the building-and slipped out into the dark, damp night beyond.

The pavements were slick with rainwater and smaller gems hurried to and fro under wide umbrellas. He huddled down under his own and maintained some semblance of patience, walking only as fast as courtesy allowed him to.

Just as she'd said, Jasper had parked the transport in the same place she always did. Ducking into the alleyway and shaking the umbrella dry, Hematite found the door handle to the transport (it was nearly invisible in the gloom with the cabin lights off) and tapped smartly upon it. A moment later, Jasper brought the engines online and with a purr, the transport lit up.

She opened the passenger door and he gratefully slid in. Once the door was closed again, the cabin lights dimmed and the console before them lit up with an array of symbols and dials.

"Where to?"

"Same coordinates as before. I don't expect to be followed."

Jasper smiled a curious smile and shrugged as she eased the transport into the air.

"You're the boss." she murmured.

A half hour of driving took them comfortably outside of the city limits. With practiced skill, Jasper brought the nimble craft down in a landing spiral next to the same abandoned factory as they'd come to last time.

The place was dim and dark, little more than a large grey warehouse on the outer edges of the city. She knew that Hematite preferred privacy and discretion with regards to their arrangements, but she felt that this was taking things a little far.

They disembarked and as Hematite hurried briskly into the shelter of the building, Jasper set up a few devices within the parked transport; one cloaked the vehicle; one disabled their council-issue com units and another helped to mask the heat emissions that they had very quickly discovered could break their cover.

Inside the husk of the factory, amongst rusting conveyor belts and dusty concrete floors, Hematite was busy setting up his equipment; a square of swept floor was picked out with floodlights and small cameras were mounted on tripods set up around the perimeter at varying heights. This was the six or seventh time Jasper had come here with Hematite, but his obsession for precision and method still made her a little uneasy. Not for the first time, she wondered briefly if this was how Hematite's patient's felt upon entering theatre.

Jasper stayed out of Hematite's way as he bustled around, watching with veiled interest.

"So you said you thought you were close to figuring this thing out...How much longer do you think it'll take?"

Hematite continued to work, not taking his slate grey eyes away from the equipment.

"Another session or so after this and I should have enough data to work independently."

"Oh. Alright."

Jasper tried to sound surprised, but Hematite was having none of it. He flicked a few final switches and brought the cameras online; when he turned back to face her, his face was unreadable.

"Don't tell me you're disappointed."

"Well-I-uh-"

Hematite smiled softly; Jasper felt her gem shudder.

"You don't need to say it...I've come to..Enjoy our little arrangement as well. So long as we are careful, I see no reason to end things so soon as my work would allow."

Jasper nodded curtly, unable to come up with a reply for that. Wind howled around the outside of the building and rain rattled upon the roof; if she listened just so, she could hear a kind of half-beat somewhere in the raging storm outside as if they were inside the belly of some great beast.

There was a soft sound as Hematite cleared his throat and Jasper's attention was drawn back to the stage that had been set before her. She turned and Hematite held out a hand, beckoning her to join him. In the bright light, he seemed to glow silver and with his tie loosened slightly around his neck, Jasper needed no further encouragement.

Compared to her, Hematite was tiny, but he still drew her in close with grace she struggled to equal. Jasper entwined his slim hands with hers and with ease that had come only with practice, they began to dance. As the rain hammered down, they formed intricate patterns on the floor with their steps. Hematite's body moved and twisted with as much elegance as a skein of silk rippling in the wind. When their forms finally began to blur and turn into light, Jasper pulled Hematite close to her, dipping him down to the floor. A great wave of light swept outwards before fading to sudden darkness.

In the middle of the stage was a single figure. She was crouched on one knee and was breathing heavily. As the dust from Jasper and Hematite's frenetic fusion dance settled, the new gem pushed back her hair and rose somewhat unsteadily from where she was crouched. Under the floodlights, her skin was a soft tawny gold and her hair, which hung dead-straight to the backs of her knees, shimmered pale silver.

She stretched out four arms, wiry but muscular, above her head and behind her back. A round silver gem flashed on her sternum; another faceted one glittered in the middle of her face. All of her movements were certain and assured (that was Jasper) but also fluid and efficient. A small sigh of relief (or maybe pleasure) escaped her lips as she studied the bands of silver warpaint wrapped around her arms.

"Never gets old." she murmured to herself, smirking.

There was a slight switch in the tone of her voice and she stood up a little straighter.

"Alright, there's still work to do."

She took a wide stance and closed her eyes, focusing.

From the gem on her chest she pulled a string of silver darts and from the one on her face, a mighty battering ram. With some difficulty, she took the two and merged them into great axe. catlike eyes studied the razor edge with glee.

The gem had little perception of time as she tried to figure out how her long-limbed body moved best, but for over an hour, she practiced her forms and stretches under the floodlights. When her shoulders were starting to ache from lifting the weight of the axe, she gave another deep sigh and the weapon vanished in a puff of smoke.

"That's enough for today."

She dissolved into light once again and whilst Jasper landed heavily on her feet, Hematite was thrown onto his back. Jasper helped him up and together they broke down the filming equipment. As they worked, Hematite voiced his concerns to Jasper and as she always did, she brushed them off;

"And you're certain that you aren't missed at the war councils?"

"Of course not. I get free time just like everyone else."

"Surely they notice that you disappear off grid for hours at a time."

Jasper shrugged and shouldered a tripod.

"If they do, Security don't say anything about it. Most of the Council have secret business outside of the halls. These days everyone has enough sense not to mention it."

"But I doubt that other council members are undergoing illegal fusions-"

Jasper grinned and slapped a massive palm on Hematite's shoulder.

"Relax, Ati, no one's gonna know...So long as you don't squeal on us. It'd be a shame too; Jaspilite's become one of my favourites."

At the steely tone of her voice, Hematite made hushing motions and grinned back somewhat uneasily.

"Never, Jasper. I've enjoyed this as much as you have. Now let's get this all loaded up."

They gathered up the last of the equipment and boarded the transport. As Jasper wheeled it back towards the city, Hematite ignored the pang of worry in his chest. She landed the transport where Hematite had met her earlier and before she strode away into the rain, she let him press his lips hurriedly, desperately to hers. He felt her smirk in reply to those things which he dare not say another way and then she was gone, just another figure merging onto the crowded pavements.

* * *

Lapis

From the protection of a tattered and worn umbrella, an anonymous-looking gem followed Jasper through the viewfinder of a camera. It was a small and narrow thing, no bigger than a credit card, but it did take beautiful photos. She smiled to herself as she admired her photography, including an especially beautiful photo of the General herself being kissed passionately by a gem she did not recognise.

She watched carefully until the General was out of sight and the other gem had taken off again in the transport before she tucked the camera away and collapsed the umbrella. Once she was certain she was not being followed into the labyrinthine alleyways behind the well-to-do city apartments, she folded down her rain hood and look towards the sky. A moment later, the raindrops had gathered around her and she moulded them into two wide wings. With a quiet huff of air, she took to the sky and flew off towards locations unknown. She blended in with the navy storm clouds perfectly and attracted no attention from the other air traffic as she circled the city, scanning the land below her for the tiny square of parkland she had a contact waiting in.

Tucking her wings in, she homed in on the green space and landed gently, wings dissolving into the rain. Watching around her for followers again, she made her way to a public transport shelter and took a seat next to her contact. The other gem ceased the nervous wringing of her hands and the winged gem wondered not for the first time what she had done to herself to earn such curious prosthetic hands.

"You were right." she stated quietly. The other gem looked startled, then schooled her expression carefully to try and hide her disappointment. Was she perhaps sweet on the General as well? Or the other gem-this "Hematite" as her contact called her?

"Oh...Well, it was only a matter of time before someone else started asking the same questions."

Carnelian folded her hands again and the other gem waited patiently for her to speak again. Her blue eyes watched Carnelian acutely; she missed very little.

"I'd hoped I was just being paranoid."

A blue-eyed gaze flitted away, scanned the horizon of the parkland and flitted back.

"You're worried about her."

"Him. I'm worried about him."

Interest colored the winged gem's eyes for a moment before fading. She decided not to mention the use of the human term.

"You've no need to be. I don't break the confidentiality of my contracts."

"I'm glad. Did-did you get proof? I need to be certain."

In reply, the other gem produced the camera and handed it over.

"I suggest destroying the camera and it's contents after you've seen what you need to. Either that, or distribute the images as you see fit."

Carnelian ran a hand over the lens cap of the camera before hiding it away in her clothes.

"Thank you, Lapis. I'll provide you with the ID disks after the next set of images."

Lapis smiled politely and nodded, her gaze not wavering for a moment.

"I realise that...Photographing whatever Hematite and the General are doing is going to be difficult, but I hope that the payment will make up for it."

"Don't worry so much."

Carnelian smiled sadly and began to wring her hands again.

"Yes, I don't suppose much gets past a military scout."

"No, not much at all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *bursts in thorugh wall* I BET YOU ALL THOUGHT I'D FORGOTTEN ABOUT THIS. In all honesty, I've been lazy with writing anything at all lately but when I realised I only had two weeks of summer break left I figured I should try and get somewhere with something, so I give you this. Peridot's probably gonna be around in the next chapter, but I won't make any promises. 
> 
> As always, please don't hesitate to tell me what you liked about this chapter and what I can improve on for next time and a massive thank you to everyone who's commented and left kudos already! You guys are awesome <3
> 
> ~J


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